My .280 is drivin' tacks again : )

T

TheNatureBoy

New member
All is right with the universe. My beloved .280 is performing up to my lofty expectations again : ) For the past year I've been trying to figure out why this rifle wasn't as accurate as it had been. I tried everything and checked everything twice. I ran this by one of the employees at Hyatts Gun Shop in Charlotte, Nc and he asked me how I went about cleaning my barrel. To make a long story short, he suggested I check for copper fouling. Bingo! I purchased the cleaning solution that he recommended, ran a patch through the barrel, and low and behold it came out blue and green. After a thorough cleaning, I went to the range today and left a happy man :D
 
Yea, I know. I had about a 45 minute conversation with this guy (Hyatts employee). He's been reloading, and target shooting for almost 40 years. When the conversation ended it was a case of "class dismissed". Talk about a wealth of knowledge. I've only been at this for 3 years. I've learned a lot, and I still have a lot to learn. The more conversations I can have with people like him the better I'll be :)
 
May i ask what cleaner you used? and how you checked for copper fouling? my .308 has been less then perfect this year despite not finding anything obviously wrong with it.
 
and how you checked for copper fouling?
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Wet a patch with copper solvent and put it on a NON-BRASS jag and run it through your bore...... let it work a couple minutes, then run a clean patch though: if it comes out green or blue, you have copper in your bore....

Hoppes #9 will get copper out, but not very well..... at least it turns patches blue after I shoot a lot ..... there are better copper sovlents out there:

http://www.frfrogspad.com/cleaners.htm

Father Frog sez KG-12 is the right stuff ...... or 10% houshold ammonia and Ivory Soap ..... but be carefull with ammonia ...... it can cause rust in humid conditions..... clean the copper out, and the clean the ammonia/ ammonia based solvent out........

I've used Butch's Bore Shine before.... it did better on copper than Hoppe's #9..... which is really more for removing carbon....
 
So i went and picked up shooters choice copper remover, its what my shop down the street had. Let it work for a few minutes like you said and acording to the directions and the patches came out a little bit blue. This is probably a stupid question but just rinse and repeat until clean? i usually clean my rifles after shooting with a bore snake and hopes 9. Maybe i need to add using patches to the mix so i can see how they come out more often.
 
I usually soak the barrel for a few minutes and then scrub with a brush. rinse and repeat until no blue, green. I only do this when accuracy falls off or I see a build-up of copper in the bore. Follow the copper cleaning with a regular bore cleaning agent ( hopes #9 or the like) to remove the copper cleaner out.
 
I remember when I was told about copper fouling cleaner by my uncle. I thought, "how did I not know about this?' I think I was 23, 24 at the time.

Now about 4, 5 years later, it still surprises me how basically every one knows to use solvent, but there are still a lot of people who don't know about copper fouling. Just interesting how some people who grew up around guns don't know about (myself included until a few years ago).

Glad it was easy fix for you!
 
ndking, it was definitely one of those "I should have know this" moments. I went so far as to replace the scope, check mounting screws, etc. I considerd replacing the base and rings. I even thought about replacing the barrel. Hey...I learned something:)
 
Now about 4, 5 years later, it still surprises me how basically every one knows to use solvent, but there are still a lot of people who don't know about copper fouling. Just interesting how some people who grew up around guns don't know about (myself included until a few years ago).
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I did not know about it ....... grew up shooting liteally thousands of rounds a year ..... of .22 rimfire..... Most people I knew never fired more than a box of centerfire rifle ammo a year.... I probably shoot my deer rifle more in a year than my Grandfather (the original owner) did in five or ten years..... shooting hundreds of rounds will accumulate some copper in your bore....
 
I fired a whole box of 7mm-08 reloads I handloaded with Barnes X-bullets. I spent two days getting the copper out of that barrel. And I could see the groups opening up more and more as I got to the last round. I don't know if Barnes has improved the composition of their X-bullet or replaced it but I won't go near them anymore. At that time Shooters Choice copper remover was the best product but I'm sure there are others now also.
 
Before this post i had only heard of lead fouling. I ran some more of it through my rifle today and they came out a little bit blue for a couple patches then clean. Im probably going to be able to shoot it tomorrow to see.
 
Barnes bullets and copper fouling

Wardbird--I had a similar experience with my 270. I love to fool around with different bullets and powders. Had been using Hornady bullets for hunting, but got the idea that Barnes would be a good bullet for antelopes. Bought a box of 110 gr. MRX and went to work.

When I started testing the things, the velocity was great! But after a couple of rounds the group started to open up. By about the tenth round the group was about 6 inches.:eek:

After talking to some shooters I work with, it sounded like copper fouling was getting in the mix of things. I bought some Barnes CR-10. Use a nylon brush. Scrubbed the barrel good, and did get a lot of blue patches. Back to the range. Same thing. 3 shots or so and the POI started moving around. Scrub scrub scrub. Two or three rounds, same damn thing. Scrub scrub scrub. Scrub scrub scrub. Same thing.:mad:

Evidently there must be some machine irregularaties in my barrel. Back to Hornady.:D
 
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